Collection Development Trip to Moscow,Tallinn, Riga,and Vilnius,May 3–23, 2013

The author traveled to Moscow, Tallinn, Riga, and Vilnius in May 2013. The primary purpose of the trip was to acquire materials written by former participants in the University of Iowa’s (UI) International Writing Program (IWP). The UI Libraries has an approval plan for works written by IWP authors from selected countries, including those she visited, but this trip was an opportunity to locate harder to identify materials and to learn from the writers themselves about their current projects.     

EUROPEAN ATTITUDES TO THE EUROPEAN COMMUNITY AND TO 1992

Most Europeans are now and have been strongly in favor of theircountry's participation in the European Community. The conspicuousexceptions are the British and Danish publics who are scepticalof the benefit they will derive from their countries' involvementin the Community. The advent of 1992 and closer European integrationis focusing the minds of governments, political institutions,business organizations and pressure groups, if not really thepublics of the member states. It is certainly having an impacton strategic thinking in other areas of the world, includingespecially EFTA countries, the Eastern block countries, theUSA and Japan. Over the nearly two decades in which the Europeans'views of their country's membership of the Common Market hasbeen measured by the EC's Eurobarometer, the average level ofsupport has been 57 per cent with only about one EC citizenin ten opposed. The pace of European economic integration hasquickened with the agreement of the EC countries on economicharmonization by the target year, 1992. This has the supportof most Europeans and many also support further social, economicand political harmonization and even integration in the comingyears. The focus on 1992 has been only slightly deflected bythe recent events in the Eastern European countries, and mayhave the effect of strengthening and, over the long term, quickeningthese goals.     

CULTURAL DIFFERENCES IN LISTENING STYLE PREFERENCES: A COMPARISON OF YOUNG ADULTS IN GERMANY, ISRAEL, AND THE UNITED STATES

Do the listening styles preferred by young adults in Germany,Israel, and the USA differ significantly? In order to addressthis question, college students in all three countries completedversions of the Listening Styles Profile (LSP; Watson et al.1995) presented in their native languages. Factor analysis revealedfour predominant constructs underlying the LSP, which were designatedas people, action, content, and time listening styles. Comparisonsbetween the three cultures revealed distinctively differentpatterns of listening style preferences, with Germans preferringthe action style, Israelis endorsing the content style, andAmericans favoring both the people and time styles.     

杜定友访日开启中日图书馆学双向交流的“鯻时代”

清末民初中日图书馆界的交流基本上以中国学习日本为主,1926年夏杜定友访日向日本图书馆界展示了中国图书馆学家的风采,以间宫不二雄为首的日本图书馆界,不仅全盘接受了杜定友首创的由“图书馆”三字简写而成的新字“鯻”,而且先后创办以《鯻》和《鯻研究》命名的图书馆学期刊,在为日本图书馆界提供学术交流平台的同时,积极开展与中国图书馆界的学术交流,从此中日图书馆学实现了双向交流。     

EUROPEAN PUBLIC PERCEPTIONS OF SCIENCE

In this paper we explore the relationships between public interestin, knowledge of, and attitudes towards science and technologyand the level of industrialization in 12 countries of the EuropeanCommunity. Using the 1989 Eurobarometer survey no 31 (N=11,678),we constructed four scales measuring interest, knowledge, generalattitudes to science, and support for EC funded science foreach of the 12 EC countries. We found that overall factual scientificknowledge correlates moderately positively with interest andattitudes to science. For example the Netherlands and GreatBritain have relatively high levels of knowledge, interest,and support for science in general. Spain and Greece have relativelylow levels of knowledge, interest, and support for science ingeneral. However, the simple correlation hides more complexrelationships. First, the variance within and across countriesof knowledge, attitudes and interest increases with nationallevels of knowledge. This indicates greater degrees of polarizationof both support and interest. Second, the data indicates a post-industrialismeffect: knowledge, interest in, and attitudes to science showa curvilinear relationship with levels of industrialization.The decline of interest in science and the less positive attitudesin highly developed countries requires further exploration.Third, we found, that the consistency of the knowledge and theattitude measures declines as the national level of knowledgeincreases. We suggest that this reflects a knowledge-ignoranceparadox and knowledge specialization among informed populations.Support for EC level science follows a different pattern. Wefound that France, Italy, and Spain show high levels of supportfor EC level science. This is not the case in Great Britainand Germany. The pattern suggests that attitudes towards ECscience are formed on the basis of national level scientificstrength: if the national science base is strong, EC scienceinitiatives find less support and vice versa. These findingsrepresent a first step towards a comparative assessment of publicunderstanding of science in EC countries.     

Radio,TV and literacy in Mexico

When radio and television are touted as the “greatest media for education” or the “promoting of social change” that the world has ever known, the need of the developing countries of the world for these media is often cited. It is probable that most citizens of the United States think of “developing nations” as those newly‐formed countries of Asia and Africa whose political, social and economic problems often are featured in the day's news reports. However, there are more than a score of developing nations in the western hemisphere, and one of these is right at the back door of the U. S. This country, Mexico, has been using radio and television effectively for a major literacy program since 1965, and the following article describes that program. Dennis Lowry is a doctoral candidate in mass communication in the University of Minnesota School of Journalism and Mass Communication. Information for this article was gathered during a six‐week study trip to Mexico in the summer of 1968.     

Travel Report: Kyiv and L'viv,Ukraine, April 21–29, 2012

This article reports on a trip taken by the author, a Library of Congress reference librarian responsible for Ukraine, to Kyiv and L'viv, Ukraine, April 21–29, 2012. The trip was sponsored by the American Council for International Education and the US Department of State.     

THE PRESS AND THE POLLS IN GERMANY, 1980-1994 POLL COVERAGE AS AN ESSENTIAL PART OF ELECTION CAMPAIGN REPORTING

Since their beginnings pre-election polls have been under attackfrom politicians and journalists. One of the most fundamentalcriticisms of polls is that they can influence the outcome ofelections. This article investigates news media reporting ofpoll results and comments on public opinion research beforeFederal elections in Germany. It presents empirical findingsfor the quantity as well as the formal and substantial qualityof this press coverage. The database is a content analysis of443 pre-election poll articles published in Germany's leadingdailies Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung (FAZ), Frankfurter Rundschau(FR), Süddeutsche Zeitung (SZ), and Die Welt (Welt) between1980 and 1994. The quantity of news media reporting of publicopinion polls has improved over the years. Now, poll storiesare a standard feature of German newspapers. The frequency ofreports depends on the conditions of each election—e.g.on the expected closeness of the election outcome. The formalquality could be better—that is the conformity to AAPORstandards. Horse-race journalism isn't found as often as inthe USA. Journalists often use poll results to predict an electionoutcome. Moreover, the analysis revealed an ambivalent relationshipbetween liberal journalists and polls, while the reporting ofconservative journalists is more in favor of opinion research.     

Acquisitions Trip to the Three Baltic States: Estonia,Latvia, and Lithuania,June 3–June 14, 2009

After giving a brief history of Yale University Library's Baltic collection, the author reports on her acquisitions trip to Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania. She visited exchange partner libraries, bookstores, and book dealers in Riga, Vilnius, Tallinn, and Tartu. One of her goals for the trip was to set up approval plans with in‐country vendors and exchange partners. She also met with a number of alumni of the Baltic Library Internship at Yale, and some of the librarians who were competing for future internships.     

Current Critical Problems in Agenda-Setting Research

After experiencing steady development over the past three decades,agenda-setting research appears to be in a period of flux. Thispaper discusses three current and critical problems that agenda-settingresearch has been facing recently: the problems of process,identity, and environment. These problems are critical becauseeach has implications that might call into question the valueof agenda-setting theory. The process problem concerns the natureof the agenda-setting process, specifically, the degree to whichthe agenda-setting process is automatic and unthinking. Theidentity problem asks whether the new concept of attribute agendasetting will become indistinguishable from framing or traditionalpersuasion research. The environment problem asks if the developmentof communication technology and the subsequent growth in thenumber and variety of news outlets will minimize the impactof media agenda setting at the social level, leading to fragmentationof the public agenda. After examining each of the problems,I suggest that the agenda-setting perspective is still worthpursuing, and I present an agenda that agenda-setting researchshould address for its future development.     

Travel Report: Kosovo and Macedonia,April 9–20, 2012

The author, the Library of Congress librarian responsible for Albanian materials, describes a trip he and a fellow staff member made to Kosovo and Macedonia in April 2012. The trip was funded by the US Department of State, and the two gave lectures on library-related topics.     

MEDIA INFLUENCES ON SUPPORT FOR PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATES IN PRIMARY ELECTIONS: THEORY, METHOD, AND EVIDENCE

In this article the authors argue that studies of the influenceof the mass media on public support for presidential candidatesin primary elections should return to the social pyschologicalmodel of attitude change. This model should take into account,however, that in the real world, unlike laboratory settings,randomization and complete controls of variables are not possible,and rational and strategic choice considerations come into play,along with the cumulative effects of new information on aggregateopinion. The variables found to be relevant to attitude change,especially the characteristics of the communicator and the communication,have not been studied systematically in natural settings. Littleis known about how new information unrelated to electoral ‘momentum’affects the public's evaluations and support for candidates.A fuller explanation is needed of what are complex media influenceson candidate support in primary elections—including especiallythose messages conveyed through the media which tend to be distinctiveand most accessible to memory: information about the viabiltiyof candidates; positive messages and images conveyed directlyfrom the candidates themselves and (to a lesser extent) fromother major party leaders who support or oppose them; and, ofspecial theoretical importance, the ostensibly credible newscommentary about the candidates.     

Graphbasierte Lernverfahren für relationale Daten

Zusammenfassung. Anhand zweier Anwendungsbeispiele aus der Induktiven Logischen Programmierung (ILP) wird die Fragestellung des Erlernens von Klassifikatoren für relational strukturierte Beispiele betrachtet. Es wird auf wesentliche Techniken und Fragen des graphbasierten und logischen Lernens, insbesondere auf Fragen des Aufwands eingegangen. Darauf aufbauend wird das Verfahren Indigo zur effizienten graphentheoretischen Transformation des relationalen in ein merkmalsbasiertes Lernproblem vorgestellt, welches den Einsatz von klassischen Lernverfahren wie CAL3 oder ID3 erlaubt. Am Beispiel von Indigo wird gezeigt, daß spezifisch graphentheoretische Ansätze und Algorithmen einen wertvollen Beitrag zur Behandlung von relationalen Lernproblemen erbringen können, der mit rein logischen Methoden, wie sie derzeit in der ILP untersucht werden, nicht entsprechend erzielt werden kann. Eine Aufgabenstellung dieser Arbeit ist deshalb die Gegenüberstellung von graphbasierten und logischen Lerntechniken am Beispiel des hybriden Lernverfahrens Tritop, welches Grundideen aus der Graphentheorie in einem logischen Gewand verwirklicht. Tritop verwendet die sog. a\alpha-Subsumtion, eine Spezialisierung der bekannten q\theta-Subsumtion, zur Klassifikation von Beispielen. Neben den beiden Lernverfahren gehen wir auf die effiziente Konstruktion von Klassenprototypen mit einem konnektionistischen Verfahren ein. Abstract. In this article, we discuss the problem of learning a classifier for relational data with two application examples from Inductive Logic Programming (ILP). We present important techniques and questions of graph based and logical learning, especially its computational complexity. Based on this discussion, the learning system Indigo is described, which relies on the efficient graph based transformation of the relational learning task into a feature based problem, which can be solved with classical feature based methods like CAL3 or ID3. Using Indigo as an example, it can be seen that graph theoretical approaches can make an important contribution to relational machine learning, that cannot be achieved in the same way with logical methods stemming from the field of ILP. Therefore, one concern of this work is the comparison of graph theoretical and logical learning methods. This is done by describing the hybrid learning system Tritop that uses graph theoretical methods together with a logical notation and ILP concepts like subsumtion of clauses. Tritop uses the so called a\alpha-subsumption, a restriction of the well known q\theta-subsumption. As an extension of the two learning systems, we also discuss the efficient construction of class prototypes using a neual network.     

Ambivalent Social Networks and Their Consequences for Participation

Does perceived disagreement in political discussion help orhinder citizens’ political participation? Some argue thatdisagreement prompts reflection, perspective-taking, and tolerance.Challengers argue that disagreement fosters ambivalence andhinders participatory activities and turnout. One seminal studythat tackled this dilemma formulated the ‘cross-pressures’hypothesis (Lazarsfeld, Berelson, & Gaudet, 1944/1968),which posited that the more individuals are betwixt and betweenconflicting social positions, the longer the time for theirvote intention to crystallize (and the lower the likelihoodthey would vote). This paper offers a critique and refinementof the cross-pressures hypothesis. First, previous studies confoundedintra-individual and structural sources of cross-pressures.Second, past operationalizations of exposure to disagreementfocused on the sheer amount of opposition to the individual’spoint of view, rather than his or her exposure to two conflictingpoints of view. A new measure—network ambivalence—isproposed to capture the latter dynamic. Conceptual and methodologicalrefinements of the cross-pressures hypothesis are tested ona representative sample of voting-age respondents in the UnitedStates, interviewed on the American National Election Study2000 panel (N=1,555). Results suggest that not only were thesepressures hardly detrimental to participation, but they alsofacilitated the formation of considered electoral preferences.     

THE DEPICTION OF SEX ROLES IN AMERICAN AND GERMAN MAGAZINE ADVERTISEMENTS*

This study provides a quantitative content analysis of the depictionsof sex roles in the American news magazine Time and the WestGerman news magazine Stern from 1969 to 1988. The underlyingassumption of the study is that advertisements reflect changesin social reality. While most studies focus on explicit aspectsof gender role depictions such as jobs, activities, interactionsand situations, this content analysis also covers implicit aspectsof role depictions such as posture, gestures, and facial expression.Some authors have claimed that these are powerful means of transmittingtraditional sex role stereotypes of women as being submissiveand of men as being dominant. Results indicate that while therehave been considerable changes in the explicit presentationof male and female roles, the implicit presentation remainedquite consistent over the 20-year period. According to thesefindings, sex roles may have changed primarily on the surface,while nonverbal sex role stereotypes still linger on. Differencesbetween the developments in Germany and the US are outlined.     

AN APPLICATION OF STRUCTURAL EQUATION MODELING IN PUBLIC OPINION RESEARCH: CONCEPTUALIZING PUBLIC AND OPINIONS

For some time now, theorists and investigators in the fieldof public opinion have discussed how opinion, public and thecombination of the two into a single term should be conceptualized.With regard to the first concept mentioned, the difference betweenattitude and opinion has been a central focus of dispute. Thisarticle demonstrates how a structural equation model, whereopinions are included as dependent variables, and attitudes,among other relevant variables, as explanatory variables, maycontribute to the discussion. Application of such a model, whichmay be considered the reflection of an attitude and opinionsystem, again forces the researcher to conceptualize the publicinvolved.     

Katrin Doveling (2005). Emotionen--Medien--Gemeinschaft. Eine kommunikationssoziologische Analyse [Emotions--media--community. A study from the perspective of communication sociology]. Wiesbaden, Germany: VS Verlag, 340 pp., ISBN 3-531-14236-4.

‘Here is a book that makes you want to shout, "Finally!"’That is the opening sentence of a recent book review that theauthor of this review wrote for the International Journal ofPublic Opinion Research about Campaigning for Hearts and Minds:How Emotional Appeals in Political Ads Work by Ted Brader (2006).The remark refers to the fact that Brader’s book focuseson an issue that has thus far received very little attentionin the field of communication studies, or, for that matter,in the fields of political science or sociology, namely, themajor role emotions play in explaining collective behavior,social decisions, opinion formation and—especially inthe case at hand—the effects of media coverage on opinionformation. Now, in the form of Katrin Döveling’scomprehensive new     

A NEW LOOK AT TELEVISION VIEWING AND ADULT VOCABULARY

An analysis of a multiyear General Social Survey data set supportsprevious findings (Gaddy 1986; Gortmaker et al. 1990) that,with rigorous controls in place, the negative correlation betweentelevision viewing and achievement disappears. Results of ahierarchical regression procedure reveal that television viewingis not a significant predictor of adult vocabulary, over andabove demographic variables and newspaper readership. But thefindings suggest that new methods of measuring television consumptionmay be needed. Based on 1993 GSS data, the analysis revealsthat frequent viewing of certain types of television programmingis related positivelyand significantly to adult vocabulary scores.The finding highlights the need for new methods of measuringtelevision consumption, for the traditional hours-per-day methodof measuring television viewership may be preventing researchersfrom understanding the true relationship that exists betweentelevision and learning.     

MEDIA TONE AND PUBLIC OPINION: A LONGITUDINAL STUDY OF MEDIA COVERAGE AND PUBLIC OPINION ON CHANCELLOR KOHL

This study investigates the relationship between media coverageof Helmut Kohl in seven leading German print media and the opinionsof the German general public about the politician between 1975and 1984. For the content analysis evaluative assessments aboutHelmut Kohl on six different dimensions of characteristics werecoded. The analysis of public opinion is based on 72 representativesurveys in which respondents expressed their evaluations ofthe politician. The two time series were compared by means ofcross-lagged correlations. The whole period was first examinedwith aggregations of three-months-intervals; then closer attentionwas paid to the time period since Helmut Kohl took office aschancellor on the basis of monthly intervals. In both cases,the results show that evaluation shifts in the media precedesimilar evaluation shifts in public opinion with a time lagof about three to six months for the whole period of investigation,and a somewhat shorter time lag for the time of his chancellorship.Evaluation shifts in the political magazines Der Spiegel andStern were more closely related to public opinion than evaluationshifts in the national dailies.